Chapter 1287: Bitch! Bitch!

Niu Youdao casually flung Sha Rulai's message aside, a faint anger rising in his heart. He was dissatisfied with Sha Rulai.

It was obvious Sha Rulai had not acted according to his wishes. He had not spread the information inside the Sacred Realm in time. Otherwise, if the Nine Saints had been distracted by that matter, Monkey might not have been taken into the Sacred Realm so quickly.

But there was nothing Niu Youdao could do about it. He could understand Sha Rulai's thinking as well. Before everything had been arranged with absolute certainty, Sha Rulai could not possibly take that kind of risk for Monkey.

Yun Ji mocked him. "You're going to act? Didn't you say you weren't going to care whether he lived or died?"

"Hmph!" Niu Youdao gave a self-mocking snort. He did not want to care. But some words were easier said than done.

When nothing had happened to Yuan Gang, Niu Youdao could leave him alone. But now that matters had reached this point, could he truly wash his hands of him?

Unless there was genuinely no alternative, he simply could not force himself to sit by and ignore whether Yuan Gang lived or died.

Yun Ji said, "The problem is, what can you possibly do even if you act? There is no solution to this. Who beneath Heaven can pull someone out of the hands of the Nine Saints?"

Niu Youdao sighed repeatedly. "It's not that there's no way..."

"When that dead monkey insisted on showing off and stepping forward for that woman, I was already worried he might draw the attention of the Nine Saints. I started thinking then about what to do if something happened to him. I've almost grown used to cleaning up his messes."

"Unfortunately, the trouble he caused this time is even worse than I expected."

"Fortunately, amid the misfortune, that fellow's mouth is hard. As long as the mystery the Nine Saints are focused on remains unsolved, the worst he'll suffer for the time being should be some pain. They probably won't kill him immediately."

Yun Ji asked, "You mean you do have a way?"

"I do. But the price is too high!"

"There is one thing I need to remind you of," Yun Ji said. "At present, no one believes Nanzhou would be stupid enough to do something like this. For now, the whole matter is concentrated on him alone."

"If you risk everyone else's lives just for him, don't blame me for refusing."

"I will not throw away my own life because he refused to listen to advice!"

Niu Youdao said, "Don't worry. I won't expose myself, and I won't drag our side into it."

Yun Ji frowned. "Then what do you mean when you say the price is too high?"

Niu Youdao swung his feet down from the couch and began pacing with his hands clasped behind his back.

"Begging someone for help."

"If you ask someone for help, naturally you have to pay a price."

Yun Ji still did not understand. "Who beneath Heaven can rescue someone from the Nine Saints?"

"Rescue him?" Niu Youdao said. "At present, the only people who can pull someone out of the Nine Saints' hands are probably the Nine Saints themselves."

Yun Ji was startled. "You're going to beg one of the Nine Saints? How could that not expose you?"

"I'm not going to beg one of the Nine Saints."

"I'm going to ask someone else to beg one of the Nine Saints."

"Send word to Zhao Xiongge. Arrange a meeting."

Yun Ji looked suspicious. "You mean Zhao Xiongge can do it?"

"Don't ask too much about this. The matters behind it are too complicated. Some of the secrets involved are not mine alone to reveal, and I can't speak carelessly about them."

"In short, I know what I'm doing."

"Also, send a reply into the Sacred Realm. Have them keep a close watch on Monkey's situation. If anything happens, they are to contact me immediately so I can respond in time."

Yun Ji nodded slightly, then turned to carry out the instructions.

...

Far underground stretched an enormous winding cavern, almost an entire subterranean world. Luminous plants grew everywhere, giving the place an eerie, dreamlike beauty.

A constant rustling filled the air, the sort of sound that made the scalp prickle.

It came from worms roughly the length of chopsticks. Their bodies were completely transparent, their internal organs appearing like indistinct clouds of mist.

These worms were a specialty of Wushuang Sacred Land.

They were called Jade Silkworms.

Clinging to branches growing throughout the underground chamber, they continuously gnawed at the glowing leaves with soft rustling sounds.

Yuan Gang hung suspended within that strange, luminous underground space.

Everything below his neck was wrapped like a silkworm cocoon, leaving only his head exposed.

When he woke from unconsciousness, this was where he found himself.

Only several strands as fine as silk hung from above, yet they steadily supported the weight of his enormous body.

After awakening, he had tried struggling.

The cocoon binding him was extraordinarily tough. Even after exhausting all his strength, he could not tear through it.

And with his severe injuries not yet fully healed, he eventually had no choice but to stop.

Lü Wushuang had resorted to confining him here because she had few better options.

A cultivator could normally be handled easily enough by applying magical restrictions.

But this man?

Magic could not restrain him.

Iron chains might have been able to bind him, but the other ends would have needed to be anchored somewhere extraordinarily solid. Otherwise, there was no telling whether his struggles would simply tear the whole structure down.

Wushuang Sacred Land had never expected to encounter such a person and had never prepared a prison built to withstand that kind of brute force.

There was no need to go to such trouble when imprisoning cultivators.

In the end, they could only use a method similar to the one Hua Meiru had used to bring him here: bind him with a product of this underground palace and imprison him here at the same time.

At this moment, bloody mist circulated in and out of Yuan Gang's mouth and nose.

He exhaled it, then drew it back in.

His breathing rasped like a bellows.

Footsteps came from the descending passage leading into the underground palace.

Yuan Gang opened his eyes slightly.

Then he suddenly drew a deep breath.

The bloody mist streamed back into his body like drifting clouds and vanished into his lungs and viscera.

A short while later, a figure appeared.

It was Lü Wushuang.

She walked through the luminous plants at an unhurried pace.

Upon reaching the place where Yuan Gang hung, she looked up at him.

Then her figure flashed and she landed on a protruding boulder nearby, placing herself almost level with him.

Man and woman stared at one another.

Seeing that his complexion looked quite good, Lü Wushuang raised one hand and pressed a finger against his neck.

After examining him with magic, surprise flickered across her face.

Only one night had passed, yet his injuries were almost healed.

He had been hurt so badly, but recovered at this speed?

This should not have been the effect of a Heavenly Succor Pill.

After withdrawing her hand, Lü Wushuang asked, "Where did you learn that body-tempering breathing art that lets you swallow clouds and exhale mist?"

Someone had naturally been assigned to watch Yuan Gang here.

The strange movements caused by his breathing had been noticed and reported.

Yuan Gang said, "Even if I gave it to you, you couldn't practice it."

"If you want to kill me or carve me up, do as you please. Stop wasting words."

That was not a lie.

When he had awakened in Small Temple Village, he had wanted to rebuild his body, so he practiced the hard qigong he already knew as a method of physical conditioning.

At the beginning, he had never imagined it would produce any unusual or miraculous effect.

Nor had he hidden it from the other youths in Small Temple Village.

Wanting his companions from the village to strengthen their bodies as well, he had taught them everything without reservation.

The strange part was that many people practiced it.

It strengthened everyone's bodies to some degree.

Yet Yuan Gang alone produced these extraordinary effects.

He himself could not understand why.

Later, he asked Niu Youdao about it.

Niu Youdao could not understand it either. He helped Yuan Gang sort through the method but found no answer.

It was not until Yuan Gang fled through the Boundless Desert with Su Zhao and, after being driven into a dead end, unexpectedly summoned sand scorpions to help him that Niu Youdao seemed to identify a possible reason.

Perhaps this so-called Chi You Wufang was connected to the temperament of the person practicing it.

The sand scorpions certainly had not come merely because of Yuan Gang's voice.

If that were the case, he could simply speak normally whenever he wanted to summon them instead of shouting at the top of his lungs.

The sand scorpions had come because they were affected by the emotions carried in his voice.

Niu Youdao's guess was that the practitioner's emotions and temperament had to correspond with the hard-qigong method of Chi You Wufang before its true effects could emerge.

Niu Youdao had even joked:

Could Chi You himself have had the same sort of temperament as you, Monkey?

A joke was a joke, but the analysis was not entirely unreasonable.

Even cultivators controlled their various cultivation methods through thought and perception. Breathing rhythms and the circulation of qi were all governed by the mind, and emotion was undeniably part of thought and perception.

Even ordinary people who were not cultivators could see their physical condition improve or deteriorate because of temperament and emotion.

Of course, whether this was truly the explanation remained uncertain.

It was merely Niu Youdao's personal analysis.

The breathing method Yuan Gang practiced was actually very simple, yet it produced such bizarre effects. Niu Youdao himself found it inconceivable and could not truly determine the cause.

Lü Wushuang did not know whether Yuan Gang's answer was true or false.

Nor did she care much about that.

What concerned her was his attitude:

Kill me or carve me up as you please.

That was precisely what worried her.

He had dared run wild right in front of her and had even dared swing a fist at her.

Was this a man afraid of death?

If someone like him simply refused to speak, what kind of torture could pry open his mouth?

After a brief silence, Lü Wushuang said, "Help me find the Scorpion Emperor, and I will guarantee your safety. How about it?"

Yuan Gang replied, "I told you I can't summon it. Do you believe me?"

Lü Wushuang did not.

"Is one Scorpion Emperor worth throwing away your life for?"

"Then let me tell you something," Yuan Gang said. "Back then, when I was being hunted down, the Scorpion Emperor saved me."

"My life was given to me by the Scorpion Emperor in the first place."

"Returning it isn't a loss."

Lü Wushuang's eyes flickered.

She was genuinely speechless.

She found it almost impossible to understand how a person like this thought.

Then she suddenly smiled faintly.

"Which is more important—the Scorpion Emperor, or Feng Guan'er's life?"

Clearly, Wushuang Sacred Land had already learned why Yuan Gang had helped Qin transport its army.

A savage expression appeared on Yuan Gang's face.

"Bitch!"

Smack!

Lü Wushuang instantly slapped him across the face, the sound crisp and loud.

Was this man truly tired of living?

He actually dared call her a bitch!

Then, on second thought, was he not exactly the kind of man who was tired of living?

Yuan Gang's head had been knocked to one side.

He forcefully turned it back toward her.

"Don't bother using that to threaten me. You can't threaten me with it!"

"A true man should look up without shame before Heaven, live with righteousness, look down without shame before Earth, and die where he ought to die. Only then can he stand upright between Heaven and Earth!"

"I will not betray another out of gratitude merely because I care about someone else."

"If you want to kill her, I will do everything in my power to stop you."

"If I can't stop you, you'd better kill me too."

"Otherwise, as long as I remain alive, sooner or later I will collect that blood debt for Feng Guan'er."

"Until death!"

The passion and conviction in his words were not feigned.

Lü Wushuang did not doubt them for a moment.

And that was indeed what kind of man he was.

He would not refuse to help Feng Guan'er merely because he cared about Niu Youdao.

He believed he had wronged her and owed her.

He was willing to repay that debt with his life.

Niu Youdao understood him too well.

He knew that unless Yuan Gang was killed outright, sooner or later he would still go do what he had decided to do.

That was why, after failing to persuade him, Niu Youdao had not insisted on forcing the issue.

Precisely because Lü Wushuang knew Yuan Gang was not lying, she stared at him for quite a while before slowly saying, "No one is asking you to betray another person."

"I want the Scorpion Emperor."

"I am not asking you to hand over a person."

"The Scorpion Emperor is not human."

Yuan Gang thundered, "If a man has no feeling and no loyalty, what difference is there between him and a beast?"

"If a beast has feeling and loyalty—even if it is only a dog—what difference is there between it and a man?"

Lü Wushuang stared at him in silence.

Then she suddenly asked, "How exactly have you managed to stay alive until now?"

Yuan Gang said, "In any case, it wasn't because you kept me alive."

"If you died, I'd live even better!"

Lü Wushuang did not know whether to laugh or become angry.

For a moment she almost wondered whether she was still one of the Nine Supreme Venerables beneath Heaven.

At the very least, this man plainly did not treat her as some lofty existence above everyone else.

Even after being cursed to die, she did not show much anger.

Instead, she changed tactics.

"Name your conditions."

"I have no conditions."

"If you want to kill me or carve me up, do as you please!"

Smack!

Lü Wushuang abruptly rewarded him with another crisp slap.

Then she added one word of her own.

"Bitch!"

With that, she turned and walked away.

There was no point continuing to negotiate with someone who refused every possible opening.

She would go back and think of something else.

[End of Chapter 1287]